How to change pip3 command to be pip?

Question

I uninstalled pip, and I installed pip3 instead. Now, I want to use pip3 by typing pip only. The reason is I am used to t

Answer 1

Solution 1

Check which version pip is pointing to

pip --version
pip 18.0 from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pip (python 2.7)

If your pip is pointing to pip2, locate where is the pip "binary".

which pip
/usr/bin/pip

This is a simple python script:

cat /usr/bin/pip
#!/usr/bin/python2

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import re
import sys

from pip._internal import main

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.argv[0] = re.sub(r'(-script\.pyw?|\.exe)?$', '', sys.argv[0])
    sys.exit(main())

So just change the shebang from #!/usr/bin/python2 to #!/usr/bin/python3.

Now pip is pointing to pip3.

pip --version         
pip 18.0 from /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip (python 3.6)

Solution 2

Remove /usr/bin/pip make make a symbolic link from the wanted pip version to it instead.

sudo rm /usr/bin/pip
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/pip3.6 /usr/bin/pip